Effect of gender, family structure and firm affiliation, on
career promotion in auditing

Whiting, Rosalind H; Van Vugt, Olivia

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Whiting, R. H., & Van Vugt, O. (2006). Effect of gender, family structure and firm affiliation, on
career promotion in auditing (Accountancy Working Paper Series No. 01_03/06). University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/1570

An experimental survey design was used to test for the effect of gender and family structure of applicant, and firm affiliation of decision maker, in the decision to promote an audit senior to manager. Two hundred and ninety nine New Zealand Chartered Accountants working in auditing at the manager level or above completed the task. Family structures investigated were unmarried, “traditional” family with two children, and dual career couple with two children, and firm affiliation was considered in terms of ‘Big Four’ or non-‘Big Four’ firms.

The results found no effect of gender alone, but there were some differential effects on the likelihood of career promotion with parenthood and family structure. Married men with children were more likely to be promoted to audit manager than comparable female auditors, but if these men were in dual career marriages than they were less likely to be promoted than other married male auditors with children. A dual career structure made no difference to promotion prospects for mothers.

Some surprising results were found when investigating the effect of firm affiliation. Decision makers from ‘Big Four’ firms showed significantly higher promotion likelihood ratings for female auditors than those not affiliated to the ‘Big Four’. In addition, they rated females’ promotion prospects more highly than those of comparable males. This interesting result may be due to gender awareness and work/life balance policies introduced recently into ‘Big Four’ firms.